A broad and fertile coast plain extends from Puerto Plata some
twenty-five miles to the small port of La Goleta. On this plain about
twelve miles from Puerto Plata, lies the port of Sosua. La Goleta is a
distributing point for the lumber cut in this district. A considerable
portion thereof proceeds from the headwaters of the nearby river
Yasica, being floated down the river and then along the ocean shore.
From the Yasica River, the mouth of which is about 100 feet wide, an
uneven rocky stretch of coast extends in a southeasterly direction to
Cape Frances Viejo, where there is a new lighthouse. Numerous brooks
traverse this region and leap down to the sea from the rocks, in
beautiful cascades often twenty and thirty feet in height. Near Cape
Frances lies the small town formerly called Tres Amarras and now
Cabrera. The Monte Cristi Range terminates here, its foothills forming
the promontories of Cape Frances and Point Sabaneta. Travel along this
rugged part of the coast is difficult; in order to avoid the
troublesome gullies of the shore, the trail often runs far inland
through dense jungle. The rocks are of a conglomerate formation, and
are worn by the waves into the most fantastic shapes. From the
appearance of the cliffs it seems that at remote periods two distinct
upheavals of the land took place, the first of which formed the peaks
which rise about twelve miles in the interior, the second and more
recent one giving origin to the great rocks along the coast. The
precipices in the interior, which in ages past were washed by the sea,
rise to a sheer height of from two hundred to four hundred feet and
are crowned with trees. The rocky masses in the coast forests are full
of clefts and caverns which furnish habitation to millions of bees.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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